Antinuclear

Australia in desperate need of a culture of belonging to nature

Nature and Culture in Australia, Bonzer, by Paul Newbury, Dec 12, In the colonisation of Australia by the British, the connection between Indigenous people and their land was severed and the land bears the scars of their dispossession. In the Indigenous worldview, land has spiritual meaning; nature and culture are inseparable; and the health of the natural environment and that of its people are intimately connected—our wellbeing is influenced by the degree in
which we are actively involved in caring for the earth.

This is a conceptual framework that can promote holistic responses to climate change and other environmental challenges. British settler invaders brought the western concept of ‘taming nature’ with them and it is now embedded in Australian culture. The following are imperatives that arise from differences in perception between western culture and Australia’s Indigenous peoples.

1 Relationship with the environment: We need to develop a set of values – an ethical basis for relating to the natural world that inspires the nation to develop a sustainable economy and way of life.
Over eons the Indigenous peoples of this land attained a heightened eco-consciousness through developing relationships with plant and animal species in totemic systems.

2 Human habitat: the survival of our species depends on an acknowledgement that an organism cannot be known separate to its natural environment. Human habitat is despoiled by loss of biomass
through tree felling, the malign threat of salinisation and pollution
of our rivers and creeks by fertiliser and pesticide. A life form
liable for the deterioration of its habitat faces insolvency.

3 Nature is Gnarled: Some see the home garden as a neat expression in
straight lines or a perfect curve: edge, hedge, lawn and bed – yet
nature values crookedness. Trees low down in the valley grow straight
to their place in the sun, otherwise nature is gnarled, knotty and
awry – presenting utmost surface to air, water and sun that cannot be
done in straight lines.
4 Central Australia: The Western Desert of Central Australia is seen
by some as dry, barren and worthless land yet to Aboriginal people it
is a profoundly spiritual landscape – glowing with the rich red ochre
of the soil, enlivened by pale gold spinifex and place of hardy desert
mulga, home to juicy maku – witchetty grub……
http://www.bonzer.org.au/?p=43647

December 3, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | aboriginal issues, AUSTRALIA - NATIONAL